With A Touch of Your Words

When everyone left I helped Jack clean up. It didn’t take that long; only 11 minutes. I grabbed my bags and headed upstairs. I had yet to see my real bedroom.

“I got those.” Jack said and grabbed my bags. He ran up the stairs and skipped steps. He only took 6 steps, I took all 12. When I got to our bedroom Jack was emptying out my suitcase onto the bed.

“Thank you.” I said and walked over. I sat on the bed and went through all my stuff. I folded the dirty clothes and put them in one pile, while they clean clothes were folded and put in a different pile.

“Here, I’ll put the dirty clothes with mine.” I handed Jack the pile and he looked at it weird before throwing them on his suitcase. “Do you want to shower first?” He asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded. I grabbed clean clothes and walked into the bathroom. I waited three minutes to get into the shower. After I cleaned my whole body I stepped out and wrapped my body tightly in the towel. Jack was laying on the bed watching TV when I walked back out. He was in his red boxers. I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Baby?” I shook my head and looked at his face. “I asked you what you wanted to do.”

“Oh, uh. I don’t care.” I walked into the closet and picked out my yoga pants and sweatshirt. Jack was still laying on the bed. I put my towel back in the bathroom and curled up next to him on the bed. Jack wrapped his arm around me and I buried my face into his neck. “Jack?” I whispered.

“Yeah?”
“Can you just,” I sighed. “Can you just hold me?” Jack didn’t say anything, he just scooped me up into his arms and held me.

“Are you excited to be home?” he asked.
“I’m excited to see you.” I said. “I don’t think it has set in yet, you know?” I said. He nodded his head against mine and kissed my hair. I’ve missed Jack’s kisses. His hugs, his laugh, his everything. Jack is the only thing in this world that I love with all my heart.

“What do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked. “We could do anything you like. Anything at all. I’ll even drive to Canada if you want to.”

“I don’t want to go to Canada.” I tell him. “I want to show you something.”

“Okay.” he said and went back to rubbing circles into my back. I fell asleep like that, with Jack holding me. It felt nice to be held. He makes me feel wanted.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

“So where are you taking me?” he asked for about the thirtieth time. We were walking down the street hand in hand. I was taking him somewhere special.

“You’ll see.” I said. “Stop asking.” He groaned and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I put mine around his torso and guided him into the woods.

“Are you gonna rape me?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“Yes,” I replied sarcastically. “I’m taking you in the woods to rape you.” I smiled and brought him deeper into the woods. Only a few more yards, then we would be there. Just as Jack was about to say something, we were here. I don’t exactly know what is was, but I know it’s beautiful. It’s a huge open field of grass, with hills and what used to be flowers in the Spring, but now aren’t anything.

“This is where I came when we had our free time.” I told him. I have drawn this place so many times that when I close my eyes it’s what I see.

“Wow.” He breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

“I want to draw you.” I said. I opened my purse and took out my sketch book and pencil. “The two most beautiful things I know, I want to draw them together.”

“Okay.” He nodded and laid down on the grass. I started drawing him. I didn’t even need to look, I had memorized everything about Jack and the field.

It took me 32 minutes to complete the drawing. Jack had fallen asleep with his hands behind his head. I closed my sketch book and laid down next to him. He stirred and wrapped his arm around me so I could rest my head on his chest.

“Sorry, did I ruin your picture?” he asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “I memorized everything about you and this place. I just wanted you here when I drew it.”

“Can I see it?” he asked. I sat up and took out my sketch book and flipped to the page. “Oh my God, it’s awesome.” He said. He guided his fingers over the page, tracing the picture.

“You think?”

“Absolutely.” He said. “I didn’t even know you drew.”

“It’s something that I just started.” I explained. “There wasn’t really much we could do, and Beth suggested I take up art to calm my nerves. It worked.”

“What else did you draw?” He asked. I took the notebook and flipped to the first page. It was a drawing of the four of them standing against a wall. Alex, of course, was holding a peace sign. I had drawn this from memory. The next couple of pages were of Jack. There were a couple of him playing guitar, standing by the ocean, with me. The next page was of Alex. He was standing in front of a microphone and his hand was in his hair. It was from the last night I was free. All Time Low had a show in Baltimore, I was standing back stage with Matt. Alex looked so peaceful when he sang, I wanted to capture the moment forever.

“These are really good, Chelsea.” Jack whispered and flipped through the book. Most of the pictures were of him. One of them was of a girl that I met, Sammy. She was just like me, only beautiful. I wanted to show her how everyone saw her. She didn’t believe me when I showed her the picture. I had told her I threw the picture away, but I couldn’t throw something so beautiful away.

“Who’s this?” He asked about Sammy.

“Sammy.” I said. “She was a girl I knew.”

“Was?” He questioned.

“I don’t know where she is now.” I explained. “Probably in California like she said she would go when she left. She wanted to start over.” I looked over at Jack and he was looking back at me. His deep brown eyes were staring into my blue ones. I shut my eyes and counted to three.

“Want to head back?” He asked.

“One minute.” I said and breathed in the air. I took one more look around and gathered all of my things. Jack grabbed my hand and we walked back to the car together. It took us 43 minutes to get back home.